


Meaning of Birthdays

by stellacanta



Series: The Worth of a Human Life [2]
Category: Magic Kaito, 名探偵コナン | Detective Conan | Case Closed
Genre: Alternate Universe - Altered Carbon Fusion, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 16:57:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,408
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15029063
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacanta/pseuds/stellacanta
Summary: Kaito started when he felt arms wrap around him and a warm breath ghost against his cheek. He froze when he felt a kiss being pressed against his neck. He didn’t relax until he heard Shinichi whisper in his ear, “do you know how annoying it is when I’m the last person to know that it’s your birthday? I’m your boyfriend, but I swear my parents were laughing at me when I wondered where you had disappeared off to, all by your lonesome.”





	Meaning of Birthdays

**Author's Note:**

> So I planned to have this out on June 21 with the other birthday fic I posted.  
> Sadly, it was not meant to be. So, have another Kaito birthday fic 2 days after Kaito's birthday.

Kaito started when he felt arms wrap around him and a warm breath ghost against his cheek. He froze when he felt a kiss being pressed against his neck. He didn’t relax until he heard Shinichi whisper in his ear, “do you know how annoying it is when _I’m_ the last person to know that it’s your birthday? I’m your boyfriend, but I swear my parents were laughing at me when I wondered where you had disappeared off to, all by your lonesome.”

Trust it to be Shinichi to be the one to creep in on him. Truth be told, he had slipped out of Shinichi’s company for the sake of spending his birthday _alone_. (Well, not completely alone, he couldn’t help but feel relieved that lunch with Hakuba was done and over with. He was not looking forward to the inevitable conflict between Hakuba and Shinichi if they had met, and on his birthday of all days.) “That would be partially my fault. I thought you wouldn’t be interesting in celebrating my birthday with me and you always seem so busy.” There was a fond sigh as Shinichi removed himself from Kaito and circled around the room.

“Never so busy that I can’t spend time with you,” Shinichi replied smoothly. “Even if I do find it strange you place so much importance on the day you were resleeved.” Kaito’s face was carefully blank when his boyfriend looked back at him, one eyebrow raised in question. There was a moment of silence as Shinichi waited for his expression to change. When it didn’t, he sighed and shook his head, looking back towards the bookshelves he was stopped in front of and running a finger down the spines of the books held within it. “Ah, perhaps it’s because this is the first time you’ve been resleeved since your- original sleeve died. Sentiment, perhaps.”

“Perhaps,” Kaito agreed, careful not to reveal any of the inner turmoil in his face as he turned back to the open books and notes that he had on his desk. Whether by mere coincidence or someone’s sick idea of a joke, today also happened to be the day that he was born, and not simply the one that he had just so happened to have been brought back to life on. (He wouldn’t put it past the organization to have planned his revival down to the last seemingly insignificant detail, like having his birthday and resleeving date be the same.) “Does that mean that your gift to me is the pleasure of your company then,” Kaito asked as he carefully closed the book he had open and looked back towards Shinichi. “I know you’re not familiar with the idea of birthdays, but usually gifts are involved.” As were cake and candles, but he supposed he could start small.

“Hmm, as a matter of fact I did.” Shinichi smirked at the look of surprise that crossed Kaito’s face. He wagged his finger when Kaito opened his mouth to ask what he had gotten him. “Ah, ah, ah. It’s supposed to be a surprise. Now be a good boy and spin back around in your chair, will you? Oh, and close your eyes while I get your present ready.”

Kaito sighed as he did exactly just that. He could hear a rustling sound as if Shinichi had hidden his gift in a pocket, followed by a light jingling noise. He frowned even as his eyes were squeezed shut. Something metallic? Jewelry? His breath hitched as Shinichi covered his eyes with one hand and placed something cool and metallic in his hands with the other. His fingers were curled around the round object before his hand was lifted to his still covered face. “Okay,” his boyfriend breathed into his ear. “You can open your eyes now.”

The hand was removed from his face at the exact same time he opened his eyes. He breathed out in wonder when he stared at the pocket watch that he held in his hands. It was egg shaped and rough with hundreds of tiny crystal pyramids embedded into its brass casing, giving it a bold, geometric design. He noted with some interest that the back of the watch was just as rough was the front, the design apparently spread all the way around the watch. “Open it,” Shinichi whispered in his ear as arms reached around abdomen.

There was a sharp click as Kaito opened the watch, inside a perfectly round watch face peered up at him. In the center of the watch face, just above the bottom curve of numbers, sat eight tiny moon phases. He grinned in delight as he noticed the current moon phase was light up in a soft blue glow. The smile grew soft as he took in the engraved full moon above the watch face and the pair of doves cuddling against one another below. On the inner cover of the watch was an engraving of a pair of roses, set with sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and diamonds to hint at color. “It’s beautiful,” he said softly, a sappy grin on his face as he turned his head to face his boyfriend. “How long have you been planning this for? This isn’t something you could have made in a few days or so.”

Shinichi just chuckled as he rested his forehead against Kaito’s. “I’ve had it planned for a while now. I’m glad you like it.”

“I love it, Shinichi. Thank you for your gift.” Kaito turned to look back at his watch. “Plus, it’d go well with the kid suit. I wonder if that’s what you had in mind, even though I’ve retired from being kid.” He only got a noncommittal hum in response. Kaito chuckled softly and felt himself relaxing as he watched the second hand tick its way around the watch face.

……

Watches were a bit out of fashion in the modern world. Clocks were everywhere nowadays, whether it be from the phone that everyone carried with them or embedded into whatever the latest gadget was. Still, Kaito had a fondness for these old, vintage things that were long obsolete by virtue of being able to do only one thing well. And, being the loving boyfriend that he was, who was Shinichi to say no to denying Kaito something nice for his resleeving day? (Except that wasn’t what Kaito had called it, a birthday was what he had said it was? An odd term of phrase, Shinichi thought.)

Besides, even if the design was inspired by the old pocket watches that had gone long out of fashion, that didn’t mean that he couldn’t have some nice modern amenities bundled into the watch. The moon phase indicator being the most obvious, but there was also a call and message indicator, a small camera and microphone for video chatting embedded just beneath the moon engraving and above the watch face, and one other thing Shinichi had long planned for.

Sadly, clones could not be grown within the span of a few months. He had thought about getting Kaito his own set for his birthday, but the paperwork and planning involved had quickly nixed that idea. However, there was something else done, something that was far easier and not as ethically challenging as cloning someone without their knowledge. That something was to create backups of Kaito’s DHF.

He smiled to himself as he watched Kaito marvel at his watch and nodded occasionally whenever Kaito pointed out something he noticed about it. Creating a device that would create backups of Kaito that the man would carry on him at all times was ingenious. Better yet, the device was set to upload backups to remote servers during the early morning when Kaito would still be asleep. If everything was scheduled correctly, the backup and upload process would be done completely without Kaito’s knowledge. All in case of the event that Shinichi were to lose Kaito, forever. (Only now, he was guaranteed not to.)

Shinichi smiled smugly to himself at the thought as he pulled Kaito into a tighter embrace. “ _Sorry Kaito_ ,” he thought to himself as Kaito squawked at the action. “ _I know you said you wanted to die after this lifetime, but I’m not ready to let you go just yet. Besides, I’ll know you’ll forgive me for this._ ”

“Happy birthday,” he said out loud instead. “I hope that you have many more for us to celebrate, together.”


End file.
